At snow-covered Highmark Stadium on Monday, the Steelers’ playoff matchup with Buffalo unfolded largely like the regular season that had preceded it: Bills 31, Steelers 17.
The Steelers held themselves accountable for making things more difficult than they had to be.
After failing to qualify in 2022, they persevered through the latter and won one more game than they had a year earlier. This allowed them to win their final three games and get to the postseason.
And they battled through the first one, even after an early avalanche had them behind Buffalo 21-0. With 10:32 remaining in regulation, they managed to move within seven points at 24-17, but they were unable to close the gap.
The fact that the Steelers had dropped their previous three games against “teams we should have beat,” Arizona, New England, and Indianapolis, made the winning run that had carried them this far vital, according to tight end Pat Freiermuth.
And it took a huge comeback to defeat the Bills, partly due to a fumble, an interception, a defensive blunder that appeared to be miscommunicated, a missed open-field tackle, and other missteps that provided a volatile club like the Bills with plenty of opportunities to exploit weaknesses.
“Never should have been in that
